After Burner
System: NES
Release Date: December 1989
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Tengen
Genre: Flight Sim
Tengen is back, releasing a Sega arcade classic on NES with After Burner. This behind the back shoot ’em up was already released on the Master System, but the install base was so low, bringing it to Nintendo’s flagship system couldn’t have been a bad idea, right? Well, considering the poor quality of the SMS release, this one has to be better at the least.
Controls are simple, you shoot your guns with the A Button and launch missiles with the B Button. You don’t have much control over where you’re going, but you can move your aim all over the screen. Enemies either fly past you from behind or come at you from the front. If they are coming at you, be prepared for a missile attack. You can avoid these (sometimes) by doing a barrel roll or by hitting the Start Button and activating the titular after burners. The only upside is you get 70 missiles to start out with, so you don’t have to be stingy.
The visuals struggle to do anything close to what they mean to. The choppiness when rotating your plane is nauseating. Actually blowing your enemies up is nice, but painting them for lock on can be an exercise in frustration. I didn’t particularly like the Master System port of After Burner, but it’s way better than the NES port.
Graphics: 0.5
Graphical fidelity is poor and the choppiness while moving is awful.
Sound: 1.0
The music is poor and the sound effects are plain and dated.
Gameplay: 1.0
It’s too slow and flickery and finicky and choppy to play well.
Difficulty: 1.0
It’s hard, but because you can’t easily see what’s happening at any given time.
Fun Factor 1.0
You might be able to enjoy yourself for a round or two, but you’ll die for no reason and get irritated.
Overall Grade: 0.9
After Burner earns a D. A sub par port of a sub par port, feel free to stay away.